Although the missionary Word of God occupies a central position in the Christmas story, the missionary Spirit of God is at work as well. Just as the Spirit worked to bring the Word into the world, so that same Spirit later worked to reveal the Word to the representative nations gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Like a mighty wind the Spirit calls forth and accompanies those who will take His Word to each of the unreached Berber peoples of Algeria.

Pray that the Spirit of the living God will fall afresh on us, fill us with power, and stir us to action.

Today’s People Group

Pearl Marsh really loved working among the Kabyle Berbers. Sometimes when she went out to visit the Muslim women, she would leave her husband, Charles, in charge of the baby. He learned to change diapers and do all the other things the baby required.

The Marshes found supplies painfully inadequate for the carrying on of their medical work and outstations, not to mention the provision of basic necessities for home and car. Because the clothing ration of one meter of cloth per person a year lasted four long years after the fall of France, it required all of Pearl’s ingenuity and resourcefulness to clothe three growing children. She had to unpick an overcoat to provide a pattern for a new coat to be made from a blanket. Washing the fleece from a sheep, she would spin it into wool for knitting and making warm garments.

One of the hardest tests of their missionary commitment arose when some missionaries, leaving on the last boat for England, offered to take 10-year-old Daisy, their eldest daughter. When they asked Daisy what she wanted to do, she chose to go to England. So they quickly packed and drove through the night to get her to her destination. Little did they realize that Daisy would be a young woman the next time they saw her.

Pray for missionary families to discern when family separations are made with the Lord’s blessing and when they are not meant to be made.